Briefly: At the end of May it looked as if John Cusack would be playing the lead role in Jack under director Brad Anderson. At that point the film was set for a late summer shoot, but has been delayed. (We don’t know whether that is due to financing, the director’s festival and other responsibilities promoting Vanishing on 7th Street, just picked up by Magnet, or another cause.)

Now Bloody Disgusting reports that an offer is out to Liev Schreiber to play the lead, said to be “an amnesiac killer who falls in love with a doctor and faces his resurfacing memories. Does he live a ‘normal’ life, or, in real Jim Thompson fashion, embrace his inner killer?”

Samuel L. Jackson is reportedly negotiating to play another role, Pete Chandler, but we don’t know how he fits into the story. More on this one as it unfolds.

John Cusack will have company in The Raven, V For Vendetta director James McTeigue‘s fictionalized account of the final five “mysterious” days of Edgar Allan Poe’s life, but Jeremy Renner won’t be taking part. His schedule wouldn’t allow it, sadly, as he’s going to be off shooting the fourth Mission: Impossible. Stepping in for Renner is Luke Evans, a British actor who will fill the role of “a detective who partners with Poe (Cusack) to search for a serial killer who has kidnapped the author’s fiance and has gone on a murders spree that mimics the author’s work”.

Evans is a newcomer to Hollywood, but he’s had no trouble finding work. In a single year, he’s been cast as one of the titular musketeers in Paul W.S. Anderson’s 3D action-adventure adaptation of The Three Musketeers, as the thunder god Zeus in Tarsem’s Immortals, and alongside Jason Statham in the London-set serial killer thrillerBlitz. Best case scenario: he’s an acting talent to be reckoned with, and filmmakers can’t resist his talent. Worst case scenario: the studios have found their next Sam Worthington.

After the break, Edgar Allan Poe gets a fiance, and Jim Carrey gets some financial support. Read More »

Brandon Routh won’t be in the new Zack Snyder-directed Superman, or so we’re told. Which is too bad; after meeting resistance when he first got the role, I think a lot of people have grown used to the idea of Mr. Routh as Superman. Earning good will in Scott Pilgrim didn’t hurt, through the rather dire-looking Dylan Dog might. Regardless, now he’s booked a role in the indie Missing William. He may play opposite real-life wife Courtney Ford, who is in talks for the lead female role.

Mr. Routh will be the childhood sweetheart of a woman who is trying to nurse her husband to health after he’s injured in a fight. A love triangle naturally develops, “with the woman torn between the brain-damaged husband she loves and the hunky former flame who got away.” Kenn Macrae will direct from a script by Daniel McKinnon. [TheWrap]

So I guess someone gave Nicolas Cage a copy of Joel Schumacher‘s recent filmTwelve. The actor was set to co-star (with Nicole Kidman) in Schumacher’s film Trespass, which had been planning to shoot later this month. But with only weeks to go until principal photography, Cage left the film, went on vacation, and (supposedly) can’t be reached. Will Trespass still shoot, or will Cage face a lawsuit? And is there more to the story than we currently know? Read More »

Liev Schreiber has confirmed something that seems pretty obvious to me, something that most people suspected – His character Cotton Weary will not return in Scream 4.

“Cotton is dead!” Schreiber told IGN. “I know, I keep reading on the Internet that I’m doing Scream 4, but I don’t know where that comes from. No one ever told me I was doing Scream 4. No one ever mentioned anything to me.”

While Schreiber isn’t expected to make an appearance in the new sequel, yet another Scream series veteran has announced his plans to return for the fourth film. I’m not talking about the previously announced Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette or even Roger L. Jackson, the voice actor who provides the creepy voice of Ghostface. Who is it? Find out after the jump.

Relativity Media announced today that Peter Farrelly (of the famous comedy directing team The Farrelly Brothers), Brett Ratner, actress Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk and Griffin Dunne (The Accidental Husband) are directing a sketch comedy feature film. More directors are expected to be announced shortly. Originally set up at Overture Films, the yet-to-be-titled comedy project takes a unifying storyline for a series of sketch comedies in the vein of the 1970s hits Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube. Not much more is known about the premise.

I expect that we’ll be seeing more and more movies like this after the success of Valentine’s Day, which was able to cram an impressive ensemble cast into a modestly budgeted romantic comedy. And a Sketch movie allows you to cram even more stars and directors into a two hour feature for a low cost and time commitment. You can read the full press release after the jump.

Update: This story features a correction — Liev Schreiber has not yet read the screenplay.

Last week it was reported that screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) has turned in a screenplay for Wolverine 2, and that a January 2011 start date decided for the comic book sequel. io9 reports that during that press conference for Repo Men, actor Liev Schreiber said he had dinner with Hugh Jackman last night, who has read the first draft of the sequel script. Schreiber, who played Sabertooth in the original film, says it is “still not clear whether or not Victor will be present in the Japan storyline.” Is Schreiber just playing coy or was he sent the script because Fox is considering adding his character to the next installment?

Liev Schreiber is ready to fight. He’s got his eye on a biopic of Chuck “The Bayonne Bleeder” Wepner, a heavyweight boxer from New Jersey who has been said to be the inspiration behind Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky. (Let’s not have any grumbling that a Philly icon like Rocky may be based on a guy from Jersey.) The actor calls Wepner’s story hilarious and remarkable, and would like to make it his next picture. Read More »

Instead it tells of a near future when human life spans have been greatly extended by expensive artificial organs created by a company called The Union. When people fail to make their payments for a fancy new liver or other piece of their gut, a team of surgical operatives are sent out to reclaim The Union’s property. The film follows two of these guys, played by Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. Check out the first red band trailer to see what’s in store. Read More »

Update: An official domestic teaser trailer has been released online, and is now embedded after the jump. The original story follows.

We’ve seen a few photos of Angelina Jolie in character for her lead role in Salt, the political action thriller that was rewritten for the actress when Tom Cruise bailed on the role. Now there’s an international trailer, straight from Russia. First thought: man, they really do some great lip-matching work when dubbing movies over there! Check the Russian trailer after the jump. Read More »